Humans can suffer various deleterious effects from overexposure to sunlight, including sunburn, aging of skin, wrinkling, and an increased risk of skin cancer. To avoid these effects, individuals who will be exposed to long periods of sunlight can cover their skin with sunscreen materials.
Personal care products like body washes are becoming more popular in the United States and around the world. Desirable body wash compositions should meet a number of criteria. For example, to be acceptable to consumers, a body wash should have many or all of the following characteristics: attractive appearance, acceptable scent, good lather, ability to leave the skin feeling soft and smooth, i.e., provide a skin conditioning benefit, be gentle to the skin, be easy to use and rinse off easily. Finally, it is desirable that the product provide some protection against the harmful rays of the sun.
Many consumers are aware of the harmful effects of the ultraviolet rays of the sun. An increase in skin cancer and photo-aging of the skin from excessive exposure to the sun's rays is widely known. As a result, many forms of sunscreen products are sold to provide varying degrees of protection. However, despite these many product choices, often consumers fail to apply such products on a regular basis. They are viewed many times as being inconvenient. Most people bathe or shower frequently, especially in the United States. To have a product used routinely in the bath or shower that would provide some level of sunscreen protection would be very convenient and highly desirable. Many products such as make-up, lip balm and even hair spray products now have SPF protection. Providing some level of protection from a body wash would be valuable.
Combining sunscreens and cleansers, both bars and liquids, has been attempted for quite some time. For example, Berstein (Jun. 12, 1990), in U.S. Pat. No. 4,933,174, describes a detergent (non-ionic and/or amphoteric) and sunscreen agents which claims to provide some amount of protection to the skin from ultraviolet light even after rinsing the product. However, it requires at least 12 applications to be effective.
Grieveson, et al. (Aug. 26, 1997), in U.S. Pat. No. 5,661,189, describes a liquid cleansing and moisturizing composition that contains benefit agents among which are sunscreens.
Gildenberg, et al. (Apr. 17, 2001), in U.S. Pat. No. 6,217,852, describes personal cleansing compositions having photo-protective agents that require at least one photo-protective agent to be encapsulated in a time-release capsule.
Kaufman and Dulak (Mar. 28, 2000), in U.S. Pat. No. 6,043,204, describes a body cleansing composition providing protection against sunburn after rinsing that requires at least one hydroxyethylated organic nitrogen compound fixative, a polymeric quaternary ammonium salt and at least one volatile organic liquid.
Morgan, et al. (May 1, 2001 and Jun. 4, 2002), in U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,224,852 and 6,399,045, describes liquid sunscreen compositions which both deposit and lather well that require cationic polymer.
Crookham, et al. (Jun. 10, 2003), in U.S. Pat. No. 6,576,228, describes personal wash sunscreen compositions which deposit and lather well that require water soluble sunscreens.
Traynor, et al. (Feb. 14, 2006), in U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,998,113 and 7,001,592, describes body washes containing additives including sunscreens that are encapsulated in sol-gel microcapsules.
Nevertheless, in spite of all the above attempts, there remains an unmet need for an effective body wash and sunscreen combination. There exists a need for a product that would provide an effective level of sun protection, particularly a level of sun block or sunscreen that is higher than existing formulations. Further, the body washes and sunscreen combination should remain effective even after rinsing. Moreover, the sun screening functionality should preferably remain effective even after multiple rinsings or washings. Additionally, it would be desired that a body wash and sunscreen product have a gentle or acceptable feel on the human skin, as opposed to an oily feel which characterizes prior art compositions. Still further, it would be desired that a combined body wash and sunscreen be packaged in a means that can be readily and easily delivered to a human consumer, such as in liquid or bar form. Hence, there has been identified a need to provide an improved product that combines body wash and sunscreen functionality. The present invention addresses one or more of these needs.